It was the sun shining through the curtains that woke him up. His arm above his dark-brown eyes, he looked at the clock. 9.30 … too early. The brown haired boy turned away from the sun, wanting to go back to sleep. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide and turned around again, looking at the clock.
„SHIT, I'M LATE!" Shaoran yelled and jumped out of bed.
As fast as he could, he changed into his school uniform, brushed his teeth, washed his face and combed his messy hair. Oh how he hated Mondays! When he ran through the living room, trying to get everything he needed, he noticed nobody was home. Wei, his butler was nowhere to be seen and neither was Meilin, his blue haired cousin. No wonder he overslept! Shaoran wasn't the guy to oversleep often, but it happened to everyone every now and then, especially on Mondays. When he did oversleep, Wei would make sure he'd wake up or Meilin would literally throw him out of bed.
Right in the middle of his hast, he stopped at something he saw … the calendar. Slowly, he stepped closer, hoping that he had not seen right. Unfortunately, he had.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Shaoran yelled. "I TOTALLY FORGOT THAT IT'S VALENTINE'S DAY!"
How? How could he have forgotten? He has been looking forward to this day for ages! He had been planning and plotting to make this year's Valentine's Day the best day ever! How on earth could he have forgotten? And he was late! The moment he realized that, Shaoran awoke from his trance and panicked again. He ran to his room, grabbed his schoolbag and ran out of the door.
§!§!§!§!§!§!
Tomoyo looked at her best friend with worry. The pale, black-haired beauty was not the only one who had noticed Sakura's distress when Shaoran hadn't appeared this day, but Tomoyo was closest to Sakura and so could tell as the only one what exactly was wrong with her friend. Meilin, who sat behind Tomoyo, looked a bit worried herself. She was Shaoran's cousin and if she was worried, that was enough reason for Sakura to panic.
That very moment, the back door of the classroom opened and in something nobody had expected. It looked a bit like a wet dog walking on two feet and wearing the school's school uniform. Everybody stared as the creature slowly made its way to the table behind Sakura. Even the teacher was too puzzled to react. When the creature sat down on its place, it raised its head, revealing its dark-brown, glaring eyes. That moment, everybody knew the creature was Shaoran.
When he stared at the other students, they turned away as fast as they could and did not dare looking back for the rest of the lesson. When break finally arrived, Shaoran stood up, wanting to make his way out, but the sweetest voice on earth held him back.
"Shaoran-kun", Sakura called after him.
Shaoran stopped in his tracks immediately and Sakura ran in front of him so she would be able to look at him.
"Shaoran-kun, are you okay? Is there anything I can do for you?"
Oh yes, there were a lot of things Sakura could do for him and each one involved body contact. But he didn't need it to get to a better mood. The fact that Sakura worried about him was more than enough to get him to smile. But just as he wanted to assure her that everything was okay, things turned around again.
"Sakura-san", a soft voice came from behind Shaoran.
It was the person Shaoran hated most; Eriol Hiragizawa. He was the most dangerous concurrent when it came to Sakura. He was always around her and always charming her with his good manners and gentlemen-like attitude … it sickened him. And right now, when Eriol asked Sakura what she was going to do today since it was Valentine's Day and led her out, Shaoran was ready to kill. And how he would kill. He would chop that Hiragizawa's head clean off his shoulders.
"Oh my," another person joined Shaoran. "I wonder what kind of reasons Hiragizawa-kun has for wanting to spend Valentine's Day with Sakura-chan."
Tomoyo was such a drag sometimes in all her weird glory, but she had helped him so much that he could no longer be mad at her for anything. And she was bright. She could see through everyone just as she had seen through him and her words made Shaoran's blood boil.
"Sakura-chan on her very first Valentine's date … that would be perfect for me to record, don't you think?" Tomoyo said dreamily.
Shaoran's hands, which were already curled into fists, curled even tighter and had Shaoran have long nails, his hands would have already been bleeding. Tomoyo saw how Shaoran maddened more and more by the second. Her plan would work.
"Li-kun", she asked sweetly, "won't you help me spy on Sakura-chan and Hiragizawa-kun?"
Oh and how he would.
")")")")")")")
"Forgive, Sakura-san. Have you waited long?" Eriol appeared at the meeting point.
"No, not at all. I've just arrived here myself."
It sickened Shaoran to see the two of them behaving so friendly with each other. But what sickened him even more was the presence of one of the creatures that had went with him and Tomoyo.
"I hope this is gonna be good or I won't forgive ya for tearing me away from my pudding!" Kero hissed at Shaoran.
Shaoran thought this unfair since it was Tomoyo was the one who had literally dragged him away from his tons of sweets. It looked like Shaoran wasn't the only one who was annoyed. Behind him, Yue, the white haired counterpart of Kero, sighed a deep sigh.
"Kero-chan, do you think you could fly us up? It'll be easier to spy on Sakura-chan from the air." Tomoyo said.
Kero did as he was told and the wings of the little lion-like plush-toy became huge and formed a ball. When then wings opened again, a huge armed and winged lion appeared. Tomoyo and Shaoran climbed on his back and he flew off into the sky, Yue on his heel.
Tomoyo seemed to have thought of everything. As soon as the group had Sakura and Eriol beneath them, she took two binoculars out of her pocket, giving one to Shaoran. For a whole while, the two humans spied at Sakura and Eriol from above, until the two finally reached their destination; a theme park, built up especially for Valentine's Day. When Shaoran saw where they were heading, his blood started boiling again.
"Li-kun, I know you're jealous, but would you please not destroy the binocular?"
"WHO EVER SAID I WAS JEALOUS?" Shaoran yelled, but stopped gripping the binoculars to death.
"Kero-chan, please fly down to earth. Too many people could see us up here." Tomoyo said sweetly.
Again, Kero did as he was told and again, Yue followed. The group landed behind one of the stands of the park and Kero changed back to his plush-toy form. Tomoyo's car with all her self-made clothes was parked there. Shaoran sweatdropped together with the others when Tomoyo told them to change. When they were done, each of them wore black. While Kero only wore a black hat, Tomoyo wore a black jump suit that even made lady-like Tomoyo look like a hot fighter-girl. Shaoran wore a black and tight, sleeveless shirt and black training trousers. Tomoyo had made that outfit to fit Shaoran's attitude and make him look hot enough for Sakura to start drooling over him.
Together, they stayed invisible to Sakura as they sneaked around her, taking in her and Eriol's every move. Of course, Eriol noticed the group sneaking around him, but that was not really surprising, especially not for Tomoyo. When the couple walked through the park, Eriol looked back and met Tomoyo's eye. Shaoran meanwhile, took in Sakura's outfit. It looked like Tomoyo not only designed things different for him, but had started changing her style completely. Sakura wore a red dress that went smoothly along her body and stopped a bit above her knees. A small ribbon was tied at the back of the dress and there was also a ribbon at Sakura's chest. All Shaoran would have to would be to open that ribbon and he could slide the dress of her easily. And the very moment he thought that, he smacked himself
"What do you want ride first Sakura-san?" He turned back to Sakura.
"Uhm … "
Sakura hesitated. She wasn't exactly sure why she was here, especially with Eriol. Her gaze turned from the floor to her bag, where her self-made chocolate was. She had spent all day making it for one particular person. She wanted to prove Shaoran how much she love him today and it hurt that he hadn't asked her out. And she had been so happy when she finally finished the chocolate, engraving the name 'Shaoran' on top.
And now she was here with Eriol, when she really wanted someone else to be here with her.
"I think Eriol-kun should choose", Sakura faked a smile.
"Then let me win something for you."
Together they went to a shooting stand. Of course, Eriol did not miss one single stand and could choose whatever he wanted. He chose a rose bouquet and gave it to Sakura.
"Uhm … thank you", Sakura said blushing. "They're beautiful …" she whispered after she sniffed at the roses.
"Perhaps, but even all of them together cannot match your beauty, Sakura-san."
That made Sakura blush even more. Eriol definitely knew how to charm a girl. Perhaps is wasn't so bad to be here with him after all. However, Shaoran, who was hiding in the tree closest to them, had heard every word. His blood started boiling again and as he imagined how he would tear Eriol into pieces, he lost his concentration, then his grip and fell of the tree right in front of Sakura's feet.
"Shaoran-kun?" Sakura said surprised. "What are you doing here?"
She did notice his new outfit. It was totally unlike anything else he ever wore. It wasn't boring and nerd-like, it was something that totally fit to his character. And it made her blush. But she was not the only one who did. It was not a big surprise that Shaoran's head turned as red as a tomato. It was enough that he had the most angelic creature in the whole world crouching down to him in worry, but the fact that he had just made a total fool out of himself in front of her made it even worse. Next to that, Sakura might just get the wrong … or in this case right … idea that he was spying on her. Shaoran wanted to crawl into a hole. Did everything have to go wrong today?
"None of your business", Shaoran growled and stood up before walking away.
One couple after the other walked past him, which didn't particularly raise his mood. He was supposed to part of one these couples together with Sakura today. He had had it all planned out; he wanted to catch her on her way to school and even had Yue agreeing to separate Sakura from her brother. While walking the rest of the way to school with her, he had wanted to invite her here, to the Valentine's theme park. He knew how much Sakura loved ferries rides and he wanted to give her his chocolate while they rode it together and invite her on a candlelight dinner to his flat. And now he was walking around on his own while his cherry blossom got charmed from the four-eyed devil. Even worse than that, Sakura probably hated him now seeing as how unfriendly he had been to her once again. He even had sworn to himself never to be like this around her again. Where had things gone so wrong?
Just when Shaoran thought things could not go any worse, he noticed how time around him suddenly froze. No doubt this was Sakura's doing. As fast as he could, he ran back to her, worry almost swallowing him whole. He hadn't noticed how far he had walked, so it surprised him that he was out of breath when he reached the place he fell from the tree. But neither Sakura nor Eriol where there. Shaoran cursed and started running again. He ran and ran until he was totally out of breath and stopped in front of the haunted house.
"KYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Sakura!"
Shaoran knew that voice only too well. Without thinking, he ran towards the place it came from, his worry giving him new breath and new fuel. He finally found Sakura by the Ferris weal, running from a creature hidden under a dark cloak with a scythe in its hands. The creature feet were not visible, it was floating above the ground. Perhaps it didn't even have any feet at all. But Sakura soon reached a wall, making her unable to run any farther. The creature reached her and raised its deadly weapon. Sakura closed her eyes, preparing herself for death when she suddenly heard the noise of metal and she opened her eyes again.
"Shaoran-kun!" Sakura exclaimed.
It was him indeed, his sword stopping the creature's scythe. Suddenly, Sakura was more than glad to have him as a friend. Shaoran was like a guardian angel, whenever she was in trouble he would come to her rescue. And suddenly, she remembered why she decided to make chocolate only for him.
"How long can you keep this up?" Shaoran asked her. He saw the fear she must have gone through in her face, her eyes full of tears and it pained him that he had been unable to keep her from that.
"Huh?" Sakura awoke from her trance.
"The time card; how long do you think you can keep it up?"
Sakura thought for a while. "I don't know. I don't feel tired yet!"
Had he had the chance, Shaoran would have looked at her in awe. Her magical power had grown so much, she could even use the time card, which sucked a whole lot of power, for more than a moment. Shaoran knew how much magical power that card drained, he had used it himself before.
"Where's Hiragizawa?" Shaoran asked again.
"His guardians took him away. He seemed like they didn't want to leave, but they left him no choice."
Shaoran nodded and drifted his attention back to his opponent. What was that thing and where did it come from? Whatever it was, Shaoran got tired from it and hit the scythe away, throwing the creature out of balance. He turned around and took Sakura by the hand, dragging her with him as he ran through the park. He stopped at the nearby forest and pushed her behind a tree.
"Stay there and keep stopping time!" He commanded. "I'll take care of this thing."
Sakura really wasn't okay with this, but before she could say anything, Shaoran was already gone. She hid behind the tree, taking in the fight between Shaoran and the creature hulled in black. They fought for a while, none of them getting the upper hand. Sakura prayed that nothing would happen to Shaoran when Kero and Yue suddenly appeared.
"Sakura, are ya all right?" Kero asked worried.
"Yes, I'm fine, but Shaoran …" Sakura didn't finish that sentence, her attention drifting back to the handsome young man, fighting to protect her.
"That's a death-lover!" Yue said shocked.
"A what?" Sakura said.
"A death-lover. Creatures that fear and despise any kind of attraction. Usually, they are kept at bay by very strong love, but sometimes, they get strong enough to pull one part of a couple to death. And it looks like this death-lover is a very strong one if it doesn't hide in the underworld on a day like Valentine's Day. Should we not be able to stop it, many of the couples here will get torn apart."
Sakura was shocked. How come terrible creatures like that even exist? And what could she do to stop it? Sakura looked at her cards and noticed tone card which she hadn't used once yet; The Love. The Card she had sealed and transformed on the day she told Shaoran she loved him. It had united with the card with the heart on it which she had created the day Shaoran left for Hong Kong. She did not know what the card did, but she had the feeling that whatever it did, it would stop that monster. So she ran out to Shaoran.
"HEY YOU UGLY MONSTER, I'M HERE!" Sakura yelled, pulling the death-lover's attention to her.
When it flew towards her, she turned around and ran as far as she could. While she ran, she started feeling the time card draining her energy, but she could not stop. She only stopped when she reached the river for the love tunnel which did not allow her to go any farther. There, she turned around, her wand tight in her hands. She was already huffing from the run, but also from the strain of the time card. She had to act now or she would not last much longer.
"LOVE!" Sakura yelled as she pulled out her newest card and activated it.
Out came the pretty girl she had sealed, only this time with a winged heart in her hands. The girl closed her eyes and the pearl on her forehead and the heart started glowing bright pink. Soon, a pink light ball came from her and it grew so fast, the whole park was taken in by it in seconds. That power that came from deep within Sakura's heart was too much for the death eater to take and so, it slowly melted before it totally disappeared.
Shaoran had followed her, cursing at Sakura's stupidity when she had lured the monster away from him and he could do nothing but watch as Sakura used her last power to destroy the death lower. And now, that Sakura had gone too far for her own good, the staff transformed back into a key, the girl with the heart turned back into a card and time started flowing again. Sakura took two deep breaths before she fell backwards. She would have fallen right into the river had Shaoran not grabbed her hand to keep her from falling into it. The two turned and Sakura's weight threw Shaoran out of balance, making him fall. Luckily, a boat just came by and so he landed on it instead of falling into the water.
But he was not in a comfortable position. He was lying on the bank, Sakura lying on top of him. She awoke when they entered the tunnel and the moment she realized she was on top of Shaoran, she jumped back, almost making the boat turn over.
"I,I,I,I …", she stuttered, her face totally red. "I'm sorry, I must have been heavy."
"You're pretty light actually." Shaoran answered. He was surprisingly calm for being in a love tunnel with Sakura.
Named girl looked at Shaoran with her big green eyes and Shaoran smiled back. Sakura was happy now. She was here, on Valentine's Day, with the boy she loved. How could she ever have said yes to going out with Eriol? She was just too nice for her own good. Sakura's gaze wandered from Shaoran's eyes to the water, her fingers covering her mouth in a loose fist. She then moved towards Shaoran and wrapped her hands around his waist.
"Thanks for saving me" she whispered, burying her face into Shaoran's shirt. "I'd be lost without you."
Shaoran's calmness disappeared in an instant and his face heated up again, his body becoming tense. But when he saw how weak and disturbed Sakura still was, he relaxed and hugged her back
"="="="="="
"Don't you think that went a little far? Something less dangerous would have done it just as well." Tomoyo thought out loud as she walked through the park, Eriol at her side.
"I would never have summoned anything Sakura-san could not have handled." Eriol smiled back.
Their plan had worked. Of course the two knew that Shaoran had a plan himself, but they also knew that Shaoran would never actually bring that plan into realization. He was just too shy for that. So the two of them had hatched out a plan themselves. Eriol had wanted something a little mean, seeing that this was the way he usually was and Tomoyo just wanted to be able to film Sakura in action once again. Eriol had extra put a spell on her so that she would not be affected by the time card.
"That's true. I guess I just have to trust you a little more." Tomoyo smiled sweetly.
Sakura gripped Shaoran's shirt.
"Don't go …" she whispered. "I don't want you to leave me yet.
Shaoran looked at her with worry. Her cheeks were a bit flushed and one of the reasons she didn't want him to go where probably because she loved him and wanted to stay with him. But that wasn't it. Sakura was still a bit scared by the events today and was not quite ready to leave her protectors side. After Sakura had defeated the death-lover, the two of them had spend the rest of the day together and as Tomoyo and Eriol had expected, Shaoran had not had the guts to give Sakura his chocolate, not to invite her for dinner at his house. Besides that, every time he thought of that dinner, another thought came into his mind and when he looked at Sakura then, he wanted to hit himself for thinking thoughts like these with such a creature as innocent as Sakura.
"But the sun is starting to set. I really should bring you home."
"Can we not go to your place?" Sakura suddenly asked.
Shaoran's head snapped to look at Sakura. Her big green eyes were filled with tears that haven't fallen yet, her face was flushed and her whole presence was pleading. No, she did definitely not have any dirty thoughts as Shaoran had hoped for just a moment. He could have killed himself for even taking that into account when he saw Sakura's face. She just wasn't ready to leave him yet.
"Please, I don't want you to leave me and Onii-chan is at home. If you really want to get inside, can we not go to your place?"
Shaoran could only nod, unable to form any thought. He only knew that he could never have said no to that angelic being. Oh, why does she have the ability to control him like that? And how is it he didn't even mind? He hated being controlled in any way, but when it was her, he was suddenly willing to obey any command she would give. He hated that.
But nonetheless, he and Sakura made their way to Shaoran's home. How glad he was that he had asked Meilin and Wei not be home this evening. But had Sakura not asked him if they could go to his house, they would have been gone for no reason at all.
Tomoyo, Kero, Yue and Eriol watched from the bushes as the two made their way to Shaoran's home.
"If that kid does anything to Sakura, I'm gonna kill him!" Kero hissed and Yue actually nodded. Only Eriol and Tomoyo sweatdropped.
!/!/!/!/!/!/!/
"How is it?" Shaoran asked as he watched Sakura enjoy his soup.
"It's delicious", Sakura squealed. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkling. The old Sakura was back. "You're really a great cook, Shaoran-kun."
"Ready for the next dish then?"
"You bet!"
The two enjoyed salad, fish, steak and dessert. I real five dish meal. By the time it was finished, Sakura was stuffed and happy as was Shaoran. She lay down on his couch, unwilling to do any unnecessary movements.
"I dun wanna go home", she mumbled. "Can I call my brother and tell him I'm staying at Tomoyo-chan's place tonight?"
"No you can't. We have school tomorrow."
"Don't you know?"
"Know what?"
"Because everybody is always so tired after Valentine's Day, we don't have school the day after. We have no school tomorrow."
Shaoran turned around abruptly. He would have Sakura staying over at his place. The thought of that alone made him blush furiously. Next to that, with Sakura lying on the couch like this, her legs exposed and her face all cute and sleepy, it would be very hard for Shaoran to control himself when he looked at her. And yet, he could not say no.
"Alright, call home. You can stay here for the night."
Sakura jumped up and kissed Shaoran on the cheek before taking the phone to call home. Shaoran on the other hand was petrified by Sakura's rash action. Luckily, he was able to catch Sakura when she glomped him. He twirled her around one time to deal with the sudden force before he left her down.
"Otou-san said I could stay! Isn't that great? I didn't even have to tell him I'm at Tomoyo's place. He promised he would keep Onii-chan at bay too." Sakura beamed at him.
"Yeah, that's great …" Shaoran forced a smile. Should Shaoran touch Sakura in any way tonight and should Toya find out, he was a dead man.
"Wanna watch a movie?" Sakura ripped Shaoran out of his thoughts.
Shaoran nodded and since today was Valentine's Day, they decided to watch a comedy-love movie. Or rather, Sakura decided. Shaoran couldn't say no to her after all. And so, the two watched a movie called date night. While watching it, the sun disappeared from view and darkness took over. Sakura started getting sleepy and rested her head on Shaoran's shoulder. Shaoran looked at her. She was so unbelievably cute. It could be so easy, untying that ribbon and slipping the dress of Sakura's body. And this time, he did not want to hit himself for it.
During the time he had been back in Japan for Sakura, he had grown. And he had changed, especially in fantasies and thoughts of what he could do with Sakura. It used to be so innocent, he would only imagine the two of them hugging or spending days like they did today. He always imagined her smile and he imagined him being the source of that smile. Then he had started imagining how it would be to kiss and make out with Sakura. But lately, things have gotten into the extreme. In his fantasies, her smile was gone, replaced with a face full of lust and desires. He started imagining how it would be to have her run her hands along his body, how it would be if he would kiss and touch her on the rest of her body as well. He had even imagined her naked.
But Shaoran wasn't the only one who had changed. He had noticed all of the girls, not only Sakura, getting curves … fast. Her hips where almost as wide as her shoulders and her breasts were big enough to fill Shaoran's hand. Next to that, he had noticed Sakura stare at him every now and then with a gaze that showed more than love. When the two were alone, he had noticed her holding him more tightly and more often than before. He had even seen a picture of her and him undressing each other. It hadn't been a pretty picture, Sakura wasn't too much of a drawer, but he had managed to identify it. What if he just tried kissing her? Would she kiss back?
But before he could do anything, he noticed Sakura pushing him down; gently but with strength. As always, he could only obey his cherry blossoms wishes and let her push him down. She crawled to his side, resting her head on his chest. Shaoran blushed at feeling Sakura's weight on him, but managed to wrap his arm around her waist. Sakura was no longer able to see the movie, but she didn't seem to mind. She smiled a small but cute smile and seemed happier than ever.
They stayed like this until the movie was over and Shaoran regretted that he ever stood up the very moment he did.
"Don't go …" Sakura begged.
"We should change, we can't sleep in these. Come on, I'll give you an old shirt of mine."
Very reluctantly, Sakura stood up and followed Shaoran into his room. She had been in his house quite often by now, but she had never been in his room. She looked around curiously while Shaoran looked around for something for Sakura to wear over the night. He pulled out an old pullover and gave it to Sakura.
"You can change in here. I'll go outside."
Sakura didn't stop him as Shaoran went out the door. The moment he closed it, he let himself fall against the wall sliding it down. If this kept up, he would have gone crazy be the next day. How could he resist her incredible cuteness? How could he resist kissing her if she was so tempting? How could he resist touching her when she was always so close? But nonetheless, he changed and went back into his room. However, the moment he did, he wanted to run back out. There was a neat pile of clothes on one of Shaoran's chairs, her bra on top of it. His shirt did cover most of her upper body, but her legs were almost totally free. And she looked irresistible cute.
"It's embarrassing …" Sakura mumbled, pulling down the end of the pullover.
Why, oh why did they have to be here alone, at night? It was so much easier to resist her when they were outside, surrounded by people. But now they were alone, in his room and she was wearing nothing but his pullover. What on earth did he do to get punished like that?
"It's the longest one I have." Shaoran answered embarrassed.
"Shaoran-kun?"
"Hmm?"
"Why haven't you kissed me yet?"
That question made Shaoran's blood shoot into his face. What on earth was she thinking?
"You and I have been a couple for almost a year and you haven't kissed me once. I was wondering why. I was thinking maybe you don't love me anymore after all and you're only with me bemmpf!"
That was it. Shaoran could no longer control himself. He was never sure if she wanted him to or not and that gave him control, but now that he knew she wanted him to kiss her, he could no longer hold himself back. In the middle of her sentence, he took her face into her hands and pressed his lips on hers. She was too shocked to respond at first, but then wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him closer. Now that he gave it to her with all his might, how could she ever have doubted his love?
The two broke apart when they were out of breath. But when Shaoran looked at Sakura's flushed face, he could not help but to kiss her again. Not as fierce this time, more controlled and soft. Sakura responded heavenly in Shaoran's eyes. She showed him what she wanted when she opened her lips, allowing his tongue to explore her mouth. When the two got tired of standing, Shaoran lifted her up, breaking lip contact and put her down on his bed. For a moment, he just looked into her wonderful green eyes, taking in the luck he had with that girl.
"I love you, Shaoran-kun", Sakura whispered against Shaoran's cheek after she pulled him closer to her. "I love you with all my heart."
Only one thought ran through Shaoran's mind when he woke up the next day with Sakura beside him. No, they had slept with each other, they hadn't even undressed each other. But it had been hard to stop kissing. The thought that ran through Shaoran head that morning was that yesterday was the best Valentine's Day ever. The chocolate lay forgotten in their bags